Under the Water
by TheHttydRaven
Summary: Jesse almost drowns when a man he's rescuing panics, causing him to take a rescue board to the head.


"Central to Jesse." The young lifeguards' beach-goer watching was interrupted by Beardy's call, which crackled through the handheld radio resting against his hip. "There's two guys out to the left of you, about fifty or so meters out, they look like they're getting pretty desperate, definitely need a rescue."

"Jesse to Central. I see them, I'm on my way." Jesse replied quickly as his searching eyes sought out his indicated targets, two men who were struggling to stay afloat in the water.

Jesse quickly pulled his shirt over his head, tossing it into the sand along with his radio as he grabbed ahold of the blue rescue board and ran towards into the surf, arms moving to throw the heavy board into the water, hurling himself onto it as his tanned and muscled arms plunging into the water to propel himself and the board forward, legs arcing over his back as he swiftly cut through the surf, eyes trained on the men he had been instructed to rescue.

As Jesse paddled up to the struggling men, eyes narrowed against the flying droplets of water, he could see that the two were struggling, heads dipping below the frothing waters as their strength visibly waned.

"Grab my hand!" Jesse made a split-second decision, reaching out for the smaller man, who was almost entirely underneath the water at this point, grasping his flailing hand and leaning back, straining as he pulled him onto the board, the male flopping like a fish out of water, chest heaving as he coughed, foamy water rushing from his nose and lips as he fought for a breath of fresh air.

Jesse turned to rescue the other man that had been beside the board, but it appeared he had used all his patience and was now going to do the job himself.

"No, don't-"

Jesse's sharp cry of warning fell on panic-deafened ears as the man grabbed the nose of the rescue board, heaving himself out of the water as he scrambled to climb on top of it in a panic, but only succeeding in violently tipping the board, leaving the first man Jesse rescued to slide off into the water once again, a cry of shock and panic escaping his lips as his flailing limbs hit the water he had just been rescued from moments earlier.

The weight change left Jesse on one end of the board, and the much heavier man on the other, and Jesse could tell it was going to end with both of them in the water.

The rescue board tilted abruptly, and Jesse yelped as he was flung up into the air, the world tilting around him as the young lifeguard lost his sense of what was up and what was down, unable to tell where he was nor what was happening.

As Jesse fell from the board and into the water, the board fell too, solidly slamming into his forehead, the resounding crack of the board against his skull being drowned out by the thundering surf and the desperate cries of the men that he had been rescuing, who had both managed to clamber on the board, leaving him in the water.

Jesse's world was overwhelmed by the pain, an agonizing sensation that originated from his head.

Jesse tried to look up, tried to reach out for the board but...

His eyes lidded, and his breath left his body as his face fell into the water, a small trail of bubbles floating away, heading to a surface that he may never see again.

He needed to...

Jesse couldn't manage to keep himself alert any longer, and the world faded around him as he fell below the surface of the dark blue ocean waters.

"Jesse!"

《◇》

Maxi chuckled as he watched Jesse call out to the man who had decided to clamber onto the board by himself; albeit on the wrong side.

Maxi turned the jetski and decided to go assist the other lifeguard, who was looking a little overwhelmed.

And as he began to make his way to Jesse, Maxi saw something that caused his heart to drop.

One of the men had caused the board to rise out of the waves, before heavily coming down on Jesse's head, the injured man falling into the water face-down. And he hadn't gotten back up onto the board, and he wasn't moving.

"Jesse!" Maxi cursed, before pushing the jetski to its fastest speed, pulling his radio out and holding it to his mouth as he went. "Maxi to Central, Jesse took a board to the head, he isn't getting back up. This-" Maxi stuttered, not wanting to put words to what he feared the situation was going to turn into. "It's looking like it's going to be a resus."

"Central to Maxi. Roger, the boys will be waiting." Beardy's voice crackled over the radio.

As Maxi got to the board, he was relieved to see the two men huddled on it, giving him only one person to worry about.

But... that one person was nowhere to be seen.

Maxi wildly looked around, heart racing as his chest filled with dread, before he looked down into the waters.

An unnatural shadowy form was sinking into the waters below them.

_Jesse._

Maxi colorfully cursed, before diving from the jetski, legs, and arms paddling desperately as he dove towards the shadowy figure, one arm stretching out, fingers grasping for something, _anything-_

Yes!

As Maxi's fingers tightened around the limp arm of Jesse, he turned and struggled to the surface, the dead weight of the unmoving lifeguard slowing him down, his chest aching as his lungs begged for air.

When Maxi surfaced, it was to see Harries next to Jesse's board, a worried expression on his face as he began to tow the board - along with its passengers - back to land.

Maxi bodily dragged Jesse onto the mat before settling himself on the seat, proceeding to pull the unconscious lifeguard from the mat onto his lap, an arm wrapping around him to keep him secured as they raced back to the sand.

The longer Jesse went without air, the less likely his chance of survival...

As the jetski skidded to a stop upon the wet sand of the beach, Maxi didn't waste a moment to drag Jesse from the transportation to the ground, Harries- who had beat him there - running up and grabbing Jesse's legs as the pair carried him further up the beach to where Yak and Reidy were running to them, equipment clutched in their grasp.

"Set him down, set him down!"

As Harries laid him out, Maxi knelt by Jesse's head and pressed a pair of shaking fingers to his cold skin, hoping against all odds...

"Yak, he's got a pulse!" Maxi cried joyously before his voice dropping again. "But he isn't breathing, he needs CPR!"

As Yak prepared the AED and Reidy got to work on toweling the soaked lifeguard dry, Maxi clasped his trembling fingers together and placed them over the center of Jesse's unmoving chest.

As he pressed down, the limp body below him jerked, his arms flopping lifelessly in the sand as Maxi pounded out thirty chest compressions, before quickly tilting Jesse's head back, placing his mouth over Jesse's, and quickly exhaling two breaths of air into his friends lungs, hoping that his friend would be able to breathe on his own soon enough.

Maxi shifted his legs to allow room as Yak quickly placed the pads of the AED on Jesse's chest before the surrounding lifeguards lifted their hands off of him as the machine instructed them to not touch Jesse as it delivered a shock, the unresponsive man's limbs jerking as electricity raced through them.

Taking a moment to look around, Maxi could see that a crowd had formed around them, countless beach-goers gawking at the resus happening before their eyes.

Maxi whipped his head back as Jesse groaned, the man turning his head as his eyelids fluttered slightly.

The shock had worked!

As the AED stated that it was safe to touch him, Maxi raced to grab Jesse, tilting the disoriented and weakened lifeguard onto his side as he spewed out frothy water, the seawater that he had taken in spilling from his mouth and nose, dripping down his face to puddle on the sand.

"Come on Jesse," Maxi murmured, squeezing his friend's shoulder as he expelled the liquid that had filled his lungs. "You're gonna be okay mate."

Jesse shuddered as he took in his first breath without assistance, breath rattling as his chest heaved, eyes widened he stared blankly ahead of him.

"Yak to Central, it looks like he's dazed and confused, we might be dealing with a head injury, the board might've done a lot of damage when it hit them. We might need an ambo." Yak quickly spoke into his radio as his free hand pulled the AED's pads from Jesse's heaving chest.

"You're doing great Jesse, just get it all out. Come on mate, come on!" Maxi cried out as he smiled, relieved, resting a hand on his shoulder. Reidy standing behind them, the lifeguard relaying the situation as it unfolded through the radio to Hoppo and the other lifeguards who were watching from the tower, undoubtedly filled with fear for the downed lifeguard.

As Hoppo relayed that an ambulance had been called for Jesse, Yak had Maxi and Harries lift Jesse onto a rescue board, which they then settled across the back of the buggy, Maxi and Harries securing Jesse and making sure he didn't fall off as Yak drove up the beach to the tower, Reidy clutching the equipment and his radio in the passenger seat.

As the buggy pulled up to the tower, paramedics were waiting for them, a stretcher held in their hands along with a few other things.

As they handed Jesse over to the paramedics, his friends could only stand back and watch as he was strapped onto the stretcher, the paramedics fastening a C-collar around his neck as a 'just-in-case', before lifting the stretcher and carrying it to the ambulance, Jesse disappearing from view as they shut the door and drove away, heading for the hospital to get him checked out.

"Do you think..?"

"Don't worry Maxi, Jesse's tough, I'm sure he'll be fine and he'll be back to work by next week." Harries patted Maxi's shoulder comfortingly, but Maxi could see a hint of concern and doubt in his eyes. It was always hard to be reminded of the fragility of their mortality.

They could only hope and pray that Jesse would be alright.


End file.
